"It's cheaper to fly an aircraft from an aircraft carrier than from the shore"

Possibly true, but only in specific circumstances, and foreign FOBs cost us nothing when we are not using them; a carrier costs (massively) just to sit there.

That aside, the Admiral seems to want to deal with the situation as handed by his political masters - a good model for his colleages in the other Services.

Iain

Willard Whyte

13th Jun 2011 22:42

By that logic we should only buy naval a/c and only fly them off foreign carriers.

TorqueOfTheDevil

13th Jun 2011 22:55

Quote:

We continue to have the resources necessary to carry out the operations we are undertaking and have spare capacity with the Royal Navy taskforce which is currently on exercise in the Gulf.

So, my dear Rt Hon Gentleman, those in HM Forces who warn of overstretch and lack of kit are just ne'er-do-wells moaning for the sake of it?

Jig Peter

14th Jun 2011 15:25

Similar line from France

There was a snippet on Beebworld nooze on 13/6 reporting the the French Navy's Chief has said that their CDG carrier will have to return to Toulon at the end of the year so that the servicing started before the Libyan campaign can be done. It won't be available for service again for a whole year.
Apparently CDG had been on station elsewhere and returned for the planned servicing when it was ordered to take part in the Libyan op, but that servicing is now very much needed - he was reported to have said that "we (the French Navy) are scraping the bottom of the barrel".
The Navies on both sides of the Channel seem to be on the same wavelength ...

...Apparently CDG had been on station elsewhere and returned for the planned servicing when it was ordered to take part in the Libyan op, but that servicing is now very much needed - he was reported to have said that "we (the French Navy) are scraping the bottom of the barrel"...

Before she started contributing over a quarter of the NATO strike sorties being flown over Libya, the French carrier Charles de Gaulle and her air group had been providing CAS for ground forces (mainly Brits) in Afghanistan since Oct 2010, her fifth such mission in nine years.

CdG and her air group have now achieved eight months of almost continuous flying operations and must be sorely in need of some maintenance and leave. The question is, what is going to fill the significant gap when she goes? The tragedy is that the RN doesn't have a carrier to relieve her. Even a CVS with a dozen or more GR9s would have mitigated the situation.